Shellfish restoration in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence (sGSL): a case study in Caraquet Bay, New Brunswick, Canada

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Shellfish restoration in the southern Gulf of
St. Lawrence (sGSL)a case study in Caraquet
Bay, New Brunswick, Canada
Marc Ouellette1, Jean-François Mallet1, Ernest
Ferguson2 and Denis Haché3 Fisheries and Oceans
Canada 1Aquaculture and Coastal Ecosystems
Section 2Oceans and Habitat Division 3Small Craft
Harbours Division
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Gulf of St. Lawrence a unique ecosystem

• The physical and biological environment
• Partial isolation from the North Atlantic
• Freshwater runoff from the land
• A deep trough running along its length
• Presence of a cold intermediate layer
• Shallow depths
• Seasonal ice
• High biological productivity and diversity
• The human environment
• Surrounded by five Canadian provinces
• Populations composed of Anglophones, Francophones
  and many First Nations
• Wide array of culturally and socially distinct
  settlements

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Commercial Molluscan Species (sGSL)
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Shellfish restoration (sGSL) a growing interest

• Alleviate the pressures
• Overexploitation
• Disease outbreaks
• Mapleque disease
• MSX (Bras dOr Lakes, NS, 2002 )
• Interspecific competition
• Invasive species (PEI)
• Habitat alterations

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Aquatic ecosystems (cumulative effects)

• Human activities
• forestry
• mines
• agriculture
• peat moss harvest
• fish transformation plants
• maritime transport
• fisheries
• aquaculture
• petrol and gas
• municipalities
• leisure
• - marina
• - golf courses
• - landscape

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Shellfish Restoration (sGSL)

• How?
• techniques, protocols, monitoring...
• Why?
• Ecological values
• turbidity, nutriment cycling, fish habitat
  (biodiversity), productivity (species, ecosystem
  ...)
• Human values
• socio-economics (fishery aquaculture),
  cultural, environmental health (eutrophication
  ...)
• Legislation (Fisheries act ...)

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How? Shellfish Restoration (techniques)
Passive
Active
 problematic ?
Closures/Protection
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Why? Shellfish Restoration (goal)
 consists of favoring the return of degraded
ecosystem to its previous state, by abandon or
reasonably controlling the anthropogenic
activities and/or by calculated interventions 
Ecological
Biomass
Community
Environment
Economic
Social
objectives (techniques, protocols...)
measure of success (monitoring...)
 realistic expectations! 
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Shellfish Restoration (examples in the sGSL)
Traditionally shellfish restoration initiatives
are biomass driven in order to enhance or sustain
a wild fishery
(Since 1996)
(Since 1987)
(Since 2001)
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Case study in Caraquet Bay, New Brunswick, Canada

• Caraquet Bay hosts the northmost commercially
  significant oyster population in eastern North
  America.
• The bay freezes over in the winter time
• up to 1 meter of ice
• Caraquet oysters are harvested since 1757
• deeply anchored in the culture
• The abundance and productivity of this oyster
  population is in decline
• significant drop in the landings
• obvious socio-economic concerns
• environmental concerns
• increasing understanding of the importance of
  this species in its ecosystem.
• An ecological restoration pilot project is
  currently being undertaken in Caraquet Bay
  (Habitat banking)

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Why? The Fisheries Act

• Under the fisheries Act, the conservation and the
  protection of fish habitats are key elements of
  the DFO mandate.
• Definition of a fish
• "includes fish, shellfish, crustaceans, marine
  animals and any their eggs, sperm, spawn, larvae,
  spat and juvenile stages." (Fisheries Act, sec.
  2).
• Definition of a fish habitat
• " Spawning grounds and nursery, rearing, food
  supply and migration areas on which fish depend
  directly or indirectly in order to carry out
  their life processes." (Fisheries Act, sec.
  34(l)).
• Section 35
• Subsection 35(1) is a general prohibition of
  harmful alteration, disruption or destruction
  (HADD) of fish habitat.
• The only relief from this general prohibition is
  when a Subsection 35(2) Authorization is issued
  for the HADD.
• A HADD is any change in the habitat that reduces
  its capacity to sustain one or more vital life
  processes of fishes.
• If an Authorization is issued, the compensation
  plan of HADD has to take in account the guiding
  principle of no net loss of the fish habitats
  productivity
• It is important to note that this 35(2)
  Authorization authorizes the HADD and not the
  project resulting in the HADD.

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The Fisheries Act The habitat banking concept

• In its most basic form, habitat banking is the
  completion of compensation prior to a subsection
  35(2) Authorization being issued.
• The proponent creates or improves fish habitat
  for future use as compensation.
• The creation of a habitat bank does not involve
  monies, nor does it "Pre-approve" any future
  HADDs.
• The location and design of a habitat bank must
  first be approved by DFO and proponents should
  provide data describing the "before" conditions.
• Habitat banks are useful in situations where a
  proponent needs to compensate for several small
  HADDs, and few compensation options exist at the
  site(s).
• Habitat banking may have the benefit of requiring
  smaller replacement ratios, since effectiveness
  is already known.
• During the time between the creation of the new
  habitat and its use as compensation, fish benefit
  from the existence of the habitat bank and a Net
  Gain of productive capacity occurs.

For further information on Habitat
management http//www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/habitat/habit
at-eng.htm
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Habitat banking Caraquet Bay (summary)
 Natural sciences versus Human sciences 

• Projet objective
• Apply and evaluate the success of four
  restoration techniques in Caraquet Bay, NB.
• Increase the American oyster population
• Enhance the productivity of the fish habitat
• Beneficiate the estuarine environment
• Develop a local expertise

Techniques Area (Hectares) 2008 2009 2010
Desilting 25 Study period 12.5 (1/2) 12.5 (1/2)
Shelling 5 1.7 (1/3) 1.7 (1/3) 1.7 (1/3)
Relay 2.5 0.8 (1/3) 0.8 (1/3) 0.8 (1/3)
Seeding 1.5 0.5 (1/3) 0.5 (1/3) 0.5 (1/3)
Total 34 3.0 15.5 15.5
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Tout comme le récif... lunion fait la
force! Just like a reef unity is strenght!